Horse racing matters man wants more racing books
Keith Knight urges everyone involved in the racing game to tell their story for posterity
Iwould urge every jockey or trainer on the point of retirement to consider writing an autobiography or memoir. Although achieving publication is easier if the writer found fame, fortune or scandal during their careers, anyone who has worked in the sport for any length of time has a story worth telling.
Horse racing is infused with a history that reaches back to a time when landtravel could be accomplished only on foot or with horse power. History, it is said, especially accounts of battles and wars, are recorded by the victorious, never by the defeated. Yet one of the most riveting accounts of the FirstWorld War is All Quiet on the Western
Front, written from the perspective of the defeated enemy. The victorious claim glory, yet when the same battle is described from the viewpoint of the defeated it is made clear that there is no true glory in war.
One of the most underrated, and perhaps forgotten, books of my lifetime is the excellent Chris Pitt’s Go Down To The Beaten, Tales of the Grand National. This book does not celebrate the victors of the world’s greatest horse race but the foot-soldiers rarely mentioned in summaries. The individual chapters celebrate not the celebrated but the likes of Bill Balfe, Tony Grantham, Peter Pickford, Keith Barn- field, and Val Jackson who talks not only about her horse Bush Guide who unseated at the Canal Turn but also her father’s horse Tant Pis, ninth in the 1965 race.
I mention the above as an example of the theme of Chris Pitt’s book to illustrate that these people, largely forgotten by everyone but family, played their part in a race that is at the heart of steeplechasing history, and because of Chris Pitt they are now and forever a first-hand quotable source of information for anyone in the future who writes about the sport.
In my small and ever-increasing racing library I have the autobiogra- phies of Charlie Smirke and Stephen Donoghue. Incidentally, though he is almost always referred to nowadays as Steve, in his book Donoghue is most insistent that he be known by the name given to him by his parents, Stephen. A small point but it determines fact. Smirke and Donoghue were contempories, riding in the same big races yet if Smirke had not written his book we would only have Donoghue’s point-ofview for historical reference.
In The Brigadier by John Hislop, the writer gives the impression that he and his wife were the easiest of owners for Dick Hern to deal with, with every decision made after fair-minded discussion between owner and trainer. Yet in Peter Willett’s biography of Hern he is quoted as saying about Hislop’s wife: “She was the most unpleasant woman I ever met.” Hern was also far from complimentary about the husband.
As I said at the beginning, the more successful the career the easier it will be to achieve publication and more specifically advertising and promotion. But that does not imply it is impossible for the journeyman jockey or smallscale trainer to have his or her story told. Here are my tips, learned after much waste of money, time and energy, towards you becoming part of the written history of the sport.
First, and this is the best advice you
will ever receive when it comes to writing – make a start. Do not prevaricate. Get stuck in. Write anything. You can erase or delete at any part of the process up to going into print. Second, do not worry about spelling, punctuation or style. Help is always at hand. It is the story of the life that matters. And always remember, the first draft is always the hardest. Even to the greatest writers the first draft is about blood, sweat and tears.
Never become discouraged and edit and add until you feel you have no improvement left in you. It is at this point you need the help of an editor, not the honeyed words of friends or family. If you know an English teacher then you are quids in. Even if you have a degree in English language I would still advise the services of an experienced editor. It may cost, according to length of manuscript, anything upwards of £400 but it is money wisely spent as when the manuscript is returned it will be presentable, with the appearance of the professional about it.
Self-publishing, which I recommend, will cost about £250 to £300 if you decide to publish as an e-book, while print-on-demand paperbacks can cost a little more.
I presently have a book on sale both as an e-book and a paperback at £1.99 and £8.99 respectively, of which half of the purchase price goes to Amazon and Createspace. I inform you of this fact so that you will not be as shocked as I was when initially discovering how much work I had to do in order for Amazon to earn as much as me without doing a hundredth of the work.
But enough of the financial excuses for not doing so. Do so. Record your history, your career. You are part of the history of this glorious sport. You have rubbed shoulders with giants. You have a truth not yet told.
Horse racing, like nature, is red in tooth and claw. Every horse, every jockey, every trainer, every groom, you ever met is a story or part of a story in need of telling. You are not forever a surname in a race-card but a player in the everyday history of our sport. Tell your story and damn the cost and consequences.